The Song of Their Souls
by inizhay
Summary: I missed the boat on CoLu week (by a lot) but I super love this ship, and I dig the prompts so here will be 7 loosely linked one-shots about my fav crack ship Cobra x Lucy and how their relationship develops. Some Jerza almost by default. (M is for language because I know some people are offended by forks)
1. 1: Body Language

**A/N: So, I'm kind of obsessed with CoLu, and most of the (far too few) stories for this ship were written for CoLu Week last summer. I wasn't reading or writing Fairy Tail fanfiction at that time, so I totally missed the boat on it. However, I dig the prompts, and I decided to write stories for them anyway to add to the CoLu love. Each story is linked (sometimes very tangentially) to a song. I hope you like it!**

* * *

 **Day 1: Language**

 **Body Language (Kid Ink)**

This was so not her scene. Why had she let Erza drag her here again? Oh, right. It's because Erza is a monster, and Lucy was a tiny bit curious about how her relationship with Jellal was progressing.

Lucy slouched on her bar stool trying to look as unapproachable as possible. They'd been in the club for maybe 15 minutes, and she'd already had to fend off multiple unwanted advances. All of which had been in the five minutes that Erza had left her alone at the bar while she searched for the blue-haired ex-criminal. The pounding music was giving her a headache, and all she wanted to do was lay her head on the bar and cover her ears, but that was probably a bad idea. For one thing, the bar was covered in Mavis knows what. For another, she couldn't cut off a would-be Casanova in advance if she didn't see him coming.

Mavis, this sucked. And where the hell was Erza?

"She's in the VIP section with Jellal," a voice yelled in her ear. "I don't know why she couldn't fetch you herself, but come on."

Lucy turned to follow her rescuer. In that moment she didn't care who he was. She didn't recognize his voice, but then, she'd barely heard him to begin with over the thump of the music. She followed a head of spiky hair through the crowd. It was impossible to tell the color through the strobe lights, so there were no clues there. He seemed to be wearing a trench coat, color also unidentifiable. Lucy spared a moment to be really glad she wasn't on a job in this place. Her hearing and vision were so impaired that she probably wouldn't accomplish anything.

"I found your blonde," the man announced as they stepped up into a lounge area. Lucy felt a shiver of magic down her spine as she passed through a rune wall. The sound of the music dimmed to a more manageable level. _Oh thank Mavis_.

"You should really be thanking me," the man who led her there said. "I'm the one who insisted on the noise-reduction runes."

The VIP section was still very dimly lit, but at least the light was constant. Lucy finally got a good look at her guide, and she was pretty sure she stopped breathing for a second. Damn he was beautiful. His red pants and black v-neck shirt clung to him under the white trench coat, which left far too much to the imagination as far as she was concerned. Then again, she didn't mind filling in the blanks really. His spiky maroon hair fanned around his tan face and slightly pointed ears. Even the scar in place of his right eye just made her want to pounce on him more.

"I can hear you, you know," he said softly, almost like an invitation.

But that statement was enough to make Lucy realize just who she was ogling: fucking Cobra, former member of the Oracion Seis, a group that had tried to kill her on two separate occasions. What was he doing—?

"I'm a member of Crime Sorciere. Too long a story for now. Maybe some other time, Top Heavy." With that, Cobra took the seat next to Jellal, and Lucy slid in next to Erza. Lucy was a bit miffed about the new nickname; why couldn't people just call her by her real name?

She shook off her thoughts enough to tune into Jellal and Erza's conversation. Lucy didn't know what she was expecting to hear, but logistics and tactical strategies for dealing with a Zeref cult was not it.

"I thought this was a social call, why the hell are you two talking about Zeref?" Lucy interrupted irritably.

"Is there a reason we can't mix business and pleasure?" Jellal asked. Lucy assumed the comment was directed at her, but he was staring at Erza while he spoke. One-track freaking mind. Well, two-track: Erza and Zeref. That thought conjured up some disturbing images and she heard a strangled sound from across the table. Glancing over, she saw Cobra giving her a horrified expression. She tilted her head at him in confusion, but then it clicked. He could still hear her. Lucy grinned at him, and if possible, he looked even more terrified than when he'd caught a glimpse of her X-rated thoughts on Erza and Zeref, with some Jellal thrown in.

Cobra narrowed his eyes at her. He seemed to be thinking about what her guts would look like decorating the tabletop. Although that particular idea held exactly zero appeal for her, using the table for another purpose with him sounded just fine. Wait. No. What was she thinking? This was freaking Cobra!

But he was with Jellal's guild now, and didn't everyone deserve a second (fine, third) chance?

Lucy was so lost in her musings that she hadn't realized that a) she was still staring at Cobra and b) Erza was speaking to her.

"Sorry, what?" Lucy said as she desperately tried to reel her mind back from the gutter.

"I said we should head back to the inn soon. We'll be helping out Crime Sorciere in the morning to gather more information on Black Lightning."

"Okay, sure." Lucy was on her feet before it actually registered what Erza had said. She sat down again immediately. "Hold on a minute! I didn't volunteer for this. You said meet Jellal at a club and hang out for a couple of days. There was no mention of dark guilds when I signed up for this trip."

"Admittedly this was not part of the plan," Jellal said. "They have been rather more active in the last few days. But we really could use your help, Lucy."

"How?" Jellal looked suddenly nervous at her question, and Cobra snorted.

"Erm, I think it's best if Erza explains it to you at the inn," Jellal said. He refused to meet her gaze.

Now thoroughly suspicious, Lucy started to argue, but somehow both Cobra and Jellal managed to hustle out of their seats and away from the lounge in a matter of milliseconds. She really needed to find out how they did that; it could come in handy at some point. Resolving to think more on it later, Lucy turned to Erza.

"Alright, spill it. How bad is it, and how much am I not going to want to help?"

* * *

This was so not his scene. Strip clubs gave Cobra the creeps. Sure he appreciated a gorgeous woman, but most of the women here were not enjoying themselves in the least. Granted a couple actually liked the work and the attention, but most of them just wanted out. The thoughts of the men were no better to listen to, so he tried to just tune everything out. He tried to focus on the sound of a specific soul. It sang clearly through the smoky atmosphere even though he couldn't actually see the soul's owner. The song of her soul stayed strong, but he could also hear a note of pure terror and a shrill tone of embarrassment.

Jellal really owed her one for this.

As if his thoughts conjured her, Lucy appeared on the stage in front of him. She wore a barely there black dress. It hit just below her ass and held onto her shoulders by two thin strings. She stood in the center of the stage, legs slightly spread and one arm over her head gripping the pole behind her. Then the music started; it was some hiphop song like they'd heard at the club the night before, but he honestly didn't know how she was finding the beat in it to dance the way she was. The music was a mess, but somehow she made it look like the swaying of her body was exactly how the song was intended to affect someone.

Cobra dug his claws into his leg and reminded himself that he was on a mission here. Still, he remembered the images that had flashed through his mind the night before when Lucy wanted to lay him down on the table. Of course, those hadn't been the only images, but they were much nicer than the ones of— Fuck. Well, that helped at least. He didn't know if he should thank the blond for giving him instant boner-killer material or not.

Lucy (or "Diamond" as Jellal had code-named her) worked the stage like she'd been doing this for years. Hell, for all Cobra knew, maybe she had. He seriously doubted it, though. He kept his eye on her as he let his hearing soak up different sounds in the room. It was difficult to concentrate on any one person in an environment like this, but Cobra had a lot of practice. It helped that he could sift through most people just because they were all stuck on the blonde onstage. She really didn't deserve to be subjected to the thoughts some of these guys had. Cobra tried to shake off the wave of disgust, especially since he knew he was in pretty much the same boat.

But job. There was a job to do. Shit it was hard to focus with her showing off just how athletic that gorgeous figure was while mouthing the words to something about 'body language.' He really should have made Jellal do this part.

His eye flicked to the right quickly before returning to the stage when he caught the sound of something interesting. Jellal's favorite word: Zeref. He tried to get a lock on the sound of the soul who was thinking about the dark wizard before he tried to find him with his eye. There. Lanky purple hair. Too many muscles. Face that looked like it took a few too many hits over the years. And an aura of magic power, though it was too far away to tell how dangerous. He caught a name from the souls around the man: Markus.

Cobra pushed up his sleeve a bit and started tapping out a code just below the sensory link that Meredy had placed on his left arm. Lucy didn't flinch, but she turned her attention in the direction he told her to. Her dancing seemed to get even more tantalizing, and her attention was subtly but certainly focused towards the purple-haired brute.

Maybe 30 seconds later as the song was ending, Markus gestured to a hovering manager, and Cobra heard him instruct for "the girl" to be taken to the usual room. He listened to the manager for a moment to find where the usual room was before slipping away. He snuck into the adjacent room and waited.

He could feel the blonde's anxiety as she was led to the room. He tried to send soothing feelings through the sensory link, but he wasn't sure if she was actually receiving any of that. He'd listened to Meredy's thoughts about her magic, and she'd even actually talked to him about it when he asked, but it was kind of beyond him in a lot of aspects. Cobra pressed his ear to the wall and waited for the signal. He heard two people's heartbeats in the hallway outside the door. There were three heartbeats in the room. One was Lucy. Cobra cursed softly. They hadn't expected Markus to have an audience, particularly when their informant had mentioned that he wasn't interested in a mere lap dance.

The poison dragon slayer forced himself to take deep breaths as he figured out a way to take out the two guards in the hall quietly so the two in the room wouldn't have any warning before Cobra burst in. Luckily, poison was a lot quieter than fire or really any of the elements the other slayers used. Rogue was probably the only one who could do this better than Cobra. But it would take a little finesse.

Cobra laid himself flat on the floor and exhaled a steady stream of poison through the crack under the door. He had learned over the past few months that with enough concentration, he could bend the poison like a solid thing and move it where he wanted. This would be easier if he could see his targets, but then, with his hearing, he very nearly could. After a few agonizing moments, Cobra heard two muffled thuds.

Two down; two to go. And he couldn't just poison the other two without risking the celestial mage getting caught in the stream.

Suddenly, Cobra's heart started beating frantically and he knew it was from the blonde in the other room. A sharp pain nearly crippled his right arm just as he heard a scream. Cobra swore and barreled through the door before bursting through the other one. The sight in front of him nearly made him forget that they needed Markus alive.

Lucy hung in the center of the room by one arm. Crackling black tendrils wrapped around her wrist, holding her in place. She dangled limply with her toes inches from the floor. The black dress was gone, though she still had on her undergarments. The two men had been laughing when Cobra came in, but now they were staring at him with surprise that quickly turned to anger at the intrusion.

"What do you think you're doing to my girlfriend?" Cobra snarled.

Poison flowed across Cobra's skin, and he tried to tamp down on his rage. He couldn't risk killing her. And Jellal would be pissed if he killed Markus. The other bastard could die, though. Cobra's arms had shifted to scales and talons without him noticing, but it came in handy when Markus's buddy attacked. Cobra dodged his clumsy blows and brought his clawed hand up to rip out the guy's windpipe. Jellal would give him a lecture later about all life having meaning or some shit, but right now, Cobra didn't care. Especially when Markus was still holding Lucy by one arm with whatever the fuck his magic was.

Cobra felt the skin of his right wrist melting slightly, but he knew it was an illusion from the sensory link. At least, for him it was. He needed to free her pronto, but Markus was keeping his body slightly behind the blonde so Cobra couldn't get a clear shot. Lucy whimpered as the electrified rope tightened. Cobra was about to rush him, when he felt his palm burning, and he realized what the crazy Fairy Tail chick was about to do.

She grabbed onto the magic line holding her off the floor and yanked on it. Markus just thought she was trying to tear it out of his grip, but Cobra knew she was smarter than that. As he pulled back on the magic line in an attempt to thwart what he thought was her plan, he set her body swinging, and as she reached just the right position, a delicate foot came up to hit his jaw with devastating effect. As soon as the force got him far enough away, Cobra let loose a perhaps overly enthusiastic poison dragon roar to make sure the fucker stayed down.

As the blow knocked him unconscious, his magic disappeared, and Lucy dropped. Cobra caught her easily and lowered her gently to the floor.

 _My keys_ , Lucy thought as she couldn't quite get her mouth to form words. Cobra handed them over to her. He wanted to tell her that this could wait until later, but it actually couldn't. This was the whole reason for the undercover job. Lucy summoned Gemini without a word. Cobra hadn't realized that she could do that. He'd never seen Angel summon a spirit without speaking when she had still used celestial magic.

Gemini seemed to know exactly what Lucy wanted, too. The tiny blue creatures floated in front of the unconscious Markus for a moment before transforming into him. Lucy gave a nod of thanks and they vanished.

 _Let's get out of here, boyfriend_ , Lucy thought. He could hear her smile through her soul. Even though it was just another part of Jellal's plan so the dark guild wouldn't realize someone was after them, Cobra had to admit that he sort of had felt like he was rushing in to save his girlfriend from some thugs. He even had to admit that it felt nice holding her as he carried Lucy out of the strip club.

Not that he'd ever admit that to her.


	2. Seven Caged Tigers

**A/N: Thanks for your reviews LucyxAnyoneShipper and Gaia Kame! Here's the Second story, and to answer Gaia Kame's question, the one-shots are all related, or at least, they're all the same time line, and they** **are in chronological order. I may go back later and use one or more of the stories as the basis of a chapter fic. For now I'm getting a feel for writing these two characters together.**

 **I didn't know what was going to happen when I started typing, but it turned out to be quite the beast, and I rather like it. Hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

 **Day 2: Caged**

 **Seven Caged Tigers (Stone Temple Pilots)**

Cobra needed poison to function properly. Of course, he ate normal food, too. But even a hint of poison in an otherwise normal dish made him much happier. His guildmates knew to never touch his food as it was most likely deadly to anyone else. Poison wasn't really hard to come by if he wasn't picky about the variety. Arsenic, cyanide, hemlock, bleach. They each had different flavors and paired best with different foods, but honestly he would take what he could get.

Household products were the easiest to come by, but when he was really feeling the need to treat himself, Cobra had to make his way to a black market dealing apothecary. Luckily his team's latest recon mission was just a few miles from the town where his favorite dealer lived. The man ran a legitimate business, but he could always be counted on for certain specialty items of a deadly nature.

A tiny bell chimed as Cobra stepped through the door. Shelves lined with herbs and bottles of mostly harmless potions surrounded the tiny room. The silver-haired man behind the counter looked up and grinned widely when he saw his favorite customer. For a black market dealer, Consin had surprisingly high morals. He wouldn't sell his poisons to just anyone, so he was always glad to see the poison dragon slayer as the man paid well and could be counted on to use the poison only for himself.

"Ah, Cobra, such a pleasure. It's been a while, my boy. Please, step to the back and we'll get you fixed up." Cobra led the way into the back room. It was much larger than the public area, with a far larger variety of potions organized with neatly printed tags on the bottles and a large fireplace and work station at the back. While the front room smelled slightly musty, the back smelled only of fire and herbs.

"I've got something special for you, so I was hoping you would be in soon," Consin said. He moved to a shelf on the left and scooted aside a few bottles before hitting a switch to open a small compartment. He turned back to Cobra with a vial the size of a thimble between his delicate fingers.

"A colleague of mine was traveling through Bosco when he found a seller from somewhere in Erinol. A drop of this is more than enough to kill a Vulcan, let alone a person. It's quite rare. Comes from some plant native to the desert. I forget the details, but I was intrigued, and I thought you might like it."

"What's it called?" Cobra asked as he carefully took the vial.

"Moonshadow. Poetic, isn't it?"

Cobra nodded absently before asking the price.

"For you, half a million jewels."

"I can't help but think you're trying to rob me, old man," Cobra said. Still, he reached for the jewels in his pocket without hesitation.

"Come now, you know you're my favorite customer." Consin said with a chuckle.

"I'm sure I'm your best customer anyway. Alright, give me whatever else you can for another 100,000 jewel."

Cobra slipped the vial of Moonshadow into his pocket as the older man began rummaging through the room and placing things in a brown bag. In a few moments, Cobra had a bag full of poison and Consin had 650,000 jewels. He hadn't lied to Cobra when he said he was undercharging him for the Moonshadow. It was actually a nice gesture on his part as he knew that Cobra always overpaid him for his wares. Of course, Consin didn't know that Cobra could hear his thoughts and thus knew just how often the older man tried to give him deals.

"Oh, and Cobra, I'd use it sparingly," Consin said as they stepped back into the front room. "Don't know how it will affect you, but as I said, it is very potent."

Cobra nodded at the apothecary and headed back to his guild.

* * *

...

"Lucy, I really hate to ask this…" Jellal trailed off. He glanced to the side, but Lucy couldn't tell what he was looking at as it was out of the communication lacrima's sight.

"Just spill it, Jellal," Lucy said. "And if you want me to go undercover as a stripper again the answer is no."

Someone to Lucy's left began coughing violently, and she recognized it as Gajeel. She wasn't sure if he was trying to hide surprise or laughter, but either way it just made her angry. She shot a death glare at the iron slayer, and he gave a final cough before started an animated conversation with Lily over sword types. She shook her head and returned to focusing on Jellal, who was still trying to find his words.

"Just… Please come to Onibus. We're in the forest a few miles out from there. I'll meet you on the edge of town." He paused and looked to his right where someone was speaking to him. "Actually, it's better if I stay here. Meredy will meet you there and fill you in."

"Why?"

"Please, Lucy," Jellal pleaded. Jellal never pleaded with anyone for anything. He looked ready to beg actually.

"Fine, but you still owe me for that Black Lightning thing so now this is two that you'll owe me," she said.

"Anything. Just please hurry."

"Is this a me only thing or should I bring someone?"

"I would prefer that you came alone, but I know how your teammates can be, so please only bring one of them, and I would also prefer that the one NOT be Natsu."

"Duly noted. I'll see if Erza's around." The blue-haired man didn't even appear flustered by the name of his not-so-secret love. He was too busy focusing to his left again.

"Fine, fine, just hurry." His eyes and voice held a note of panic, so Lucy jumped up from her bar stool and scanned the guild. The redhead was nowhere around. Lucy considered just pulling Gray from one of his daily fights with Natsu, but she knew Erza would be hurt and more than a little disappointed if she didn't take her along.

"Anybody seen Erza?" Lucy yelled over the usual guild hubbub.

"I think she said something about a new bakery opening in town on Peach Street," Lisanna offered.

"Thank, Lis!" Lucy headed for the doors to search.

"Hey, Luce! Where ya going?" Natsu yelled as she reached the edge of their impromptu battleground.

"Just going to see if Erza wants to check out some new store in Onibus this afternoon," Lucy lied quickly. Before Natsu could invite himself, she added "See you later."

It took a bit to drag Erza away from the new bakery, but once Jellal's name came up, the redhead's inner struggle was real. Lucy had to promise they would visit a bakery in Onibus before returning home in order to get her to leave. Once settled on the train, Erza grilled Lucy for every detail of her conversation with Jellal.

"I don't know what he wants," Lucy said. "But he seemed pretty desperate. I almost thought he was going to beg."

"Jellal doesn't beg," Erza said.

"I know, that's why I'm a little scared. What could possibly have him so panicked?"

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

The trip wasn't long, but it felt like hours to Lucy. Her curiosity grew with each mile, and she thought she would combust from it by the time they reached Onibus. It was only then that she realized she was supposed to meet Meredy on the edge of town, but the town had a lot of edges. She facepalmed as she wished that she had asked Jellal for more specific directions.

"I guess we'll just have to pick a spot and walk around the town until we find her," Lucy said with a sigh.

After nearly completing a full circuit of the town's border, Lucy was tackled by a pink-haired mage in a heavy cloak.

"Lucy! Thank goodness you're here. What took you so long? We don't know what to do!" Meredy grabbed her hand and began tugging her through the forest. She completely ignored Erza who trailed behind them.

"Slow down, Meredy, and tell me what happened," Lucy said as she tried to reclaim her hand. The smaller woman just held on and continued at the same pace.

"Something's wrong with Cobra. He's been delirious for two days now. He just keeps talking nonsense, but when something is coherent it's always 'Gotta see Lucy.' Or something along those lines. We've had a hell of a time keeping him in the camp."

"A delirious Cobra wants to see me?" Lucy managed to say between pants for air. She really needed to work on her endurance.

"Yeah, weird, huh? Maybe he's secretly in love with you!" Meredy paused and dropped Lucy's hand as hearts appeared in her eyes. Lucy seriously doubted the validity of that statement, but she kept it to herself. Bursting the pink-haired woman's bubble was a lost cause and could be dangerous if attempted. Lucy was just glad for the small break to catch her breath.

"So what exactly are you asking Lucy to do?" Erza asked. She seemed completely together as if they hadn't run miles through a forest.

"We aren't sure," Meredy said. "We're hoping that maybe just seeing her will help him break out of it. We just don't know what to do at this point. We don't even know what's causing it. Jellal thought it might be a spell, but we can't sense any traces, so if that's the case it's something really strong and by someone very skilled."

"Do you think he might have been poisoned?" Lucy asked.

"He's a poison dragon slayer. He can't get poisoned," Meredy said. "Anyway, we're almost there. We should hurry."

Erza and Lucy followed her the last bit into a clearing where the rest of Crime Sorciere awaited them. Angel immediately jumped up to hug the blonde, babbling about her coming to rescue them from the crazy man. Jellal emerged from a tent and pulled Angel away gently.

"Lucy, thank you for coming. Please, follow me." Not even a word to Erza. Things must really be serious, Lucy thought. Even with the knowledge of the situation from Meredy, nothing could have prepared Lucy for the scene in the tent.

Cobra had stretched out across two bedrolls with his limbs spread wide. He only wore a pair of tight black pants which were rumpled and torn in places, and he had a few bruises on his bare chest and arms. Various untouched plates surrounded him, so Lucy guessed he hadn't eaten for the past two days. His eye was closed, but he was muttering quietly to himself. She moved closer quietly so she could hear better.

"Neither the goose nor the gander fly… Seven caged tigers…Seven caged slayers…chasing cows that fly…butterfly sugarboost…Lucy…Gotta see Lucy…"

The blonde in question glanced nervously at Jellal. He shrugged, but his gaze was worried. Lucy slowly moved closer. She didn't want to startle him and end up crashing through a tent wall. When she was suitably close, she whispered.

"I'm here, Cobra."

His eye flew open and inspected her.

"You aren't Lucy," he said.

"Who else would I be?" She asked.

"I don't know, but you can't fool me. I keep seeing her. She's next to me, and then she vanishes. You're just another illusion."

"Sorry, Snakebreath, but I'm the real deal," she said lightly. "Touch me and see."

Jellal moved as if to stop her, but she shook her head. From Cobra's bruises and the cut on Jellal's cheek, she guessed that Cobra had gotten violent at some point. She didn't think he would hurt her, though. Well, she hoped he wouldn't.

The poison slayer sat up slowly and leaned closer to her. He lifted a single finger and poked her cheek. When she didn't disappear, he laughed and laid his hand fully on her cheek. He leaned closer, still smiling, before suddenly falling into Lucy's lap. A gentle snore emerged from where his face was buried in her skirt. Lucy's face turned bright red and she prepared to Lucy kick him through the tent wall, but Jellal spoke.

"That's the first time he's slept in two days," he said with awe in his voice. "This means, I can finally sleep, too." He turned and left the tent in a daze with Lucy still holding the head of an unconscious dragon slayer in her lap. Lucy sighed and began running her fingers through his maroon hair. It definitely needed a good rinse, but she kind of liked the feel of his hair beneath her hands. She was even okay with the weight of his head in her lap now that she was over the initial shock.

* * *

Lucy woke up in one of the bedrolls that Cobra had been splayed across the day before. She stretched lazily before fully opening her eyes only to find an irritated indigo eye glaring at her. Lucy was surprised. She expected some embarrassment maybe, but why the hell was he pissed at her?

"I'm not pissed at you," he said. His continued glare said otherwise. Cobra groaned and rubbed his face. "I'm mad at my team. Not you."

"Then why are you looking at me like you wonder how good my liver tastes?"

Cobra blinked at her in shock for a moment, but at least he wasn't glaring anymore.

"I would never eat your liver. Perhaps your heart. Or I've heard brains are tasty."

"I always thought you'd make a good zombie," Lucy mused. She wasn't sure why they were spouting nonsense at each other, but it was better than his ramblings the day before. At least this followed some train of thought, if a little bizarre. They traded bits of whimsy for a while longer before Lucy brought the conversation (if you could call it that) back to more important matters.

"So why are you mad at them?" Lucy asked.

"They shouldn't have called you. The poison would have worn off soon enough. Actually, you're arrival just timed perfectly with the rapid decrease of the drug's effects."

"Are you telling me you were just high?"

Cobra looked sheepish at that and ran a hand through his hair.

"It was an accident. The old man told me to take it easy with the Moonshadow, but I guess I added a little too much to my dinner a few nights ago. He wasn't messing around when he said that shit was potent."

Lucy blinked at him. She couldn't decide if she wanted to kick him, yell at him, kiss him, or storm from the tent. She settled for laughing her head off. Lucy rolled on the ground clutching her stomach until her sides ached and she couldn't breathe. The poison dragon slayer had poisoned himself. Each time the thought rolled through her head, it spurred another bout of laughter.

"I think you broke her," Midnight said from the tent entrance. All of Crime Sorciere plus Erza had poked their heads through the tent flaps to see what all the fuss was about. Lucy finally managed to stop laughing but she refused to tell them what had happened. That was up to Cobra. She didn't feel like dying today.

"Well, since the crisis seems to be averted, we should head back to Magnolia," Erza said when it became clear that Lucy wasn't going to spill and Cobra was glaring menacingly at anyone who tried to pry the information from him. She figured she would get Lucy to tell her on the train back anyway.

It was only after they had visited the bakery in Onibus and situated themselves on the train home that Lucy realized she had forgotten to ask Cobra why he was asking for her while he was high. She shrugged and figured she could ask him the next time she saw him. If she even remembered at that point because who knew when that would be?

It would be a very long time before Lucy discovered that Meredy was now in possession of a picture of the poison dragon slayer with his head pillowed on the generous bust of the celestial mage while her arms draped around his shoulders. A picture which both delighted and enraged said poison dragon slayer.


	3. A Sorta Fairytale

**A/N: Well, this took on a mind of its own. Wasn't intending it to be over 3,000 words, but you're welcome? Hope ya dig it.**

 **Thanks to all who have followed, favorited, and reviewed!**

* * *

 **Day 3: Fairy Tale**

 **A Sorta Fairytale (Tori Amos)**

She couldn't really call what she had with Cobra a relationship. They'd never declared actual feelings for each other. For months they had been coincidentally meeting in unexpected places or being dragged together when Erza or Jellal found a reason to visit the other.

Her bout of nonsense discussion with Cobra during the Moonshadow incident hadn't been a fluke. Most of their conversations devolved into similar ridiculousness that anyone listening in couldn't make heads or tails of. But it worked for them. It passed the time, and Lucy found herself enjoying their little spoken rambles.

She didn't fall in love with Cobra. She sort of slid into it sideways, like taking a wrong turn to avoid someone and ending up in a blind alley. It wasn't exactly the fairy tale romance her novels had promised her. The worst part was that she knew he could hear it once she realized how she felt because she couldn't stop thinking about it. She just didn't know if he felt the same. She was sure he heard her, but he didn't comment on it. Not a word. Did he want her to say it out loud? Or did he just hope she would ignore the feeling and not bring it up at all?

* * *

Jellal had requested the help of Team Natsu for dealing with a particularly virulent strain of Zeref worshippers. As Lucy walked with her team to the meetup point with Crime Sorciere, she wondered why this stupid cult had to live in a desert. Why couldn't it be a nice calm forest or a sunny beach? Actually, the beach would suck too as she'd still have the issue of sand in places it had no right to be.

She heard a familiar snicker in front of her and realized the group had stopped. Cobra gave her his lopsided smile. She could almost hear the snide comment he wanted to make about her complaints, but he kept it to himself as Jellal greeted them. When the group walked back to the campsite Crime Sorciere had established, Cobra took a place next to Lucy, and they quietly launched into one of their rambles. This time it was something about naked cult members on a beach with dragons doing the Cha-cha. It was unclear if it was the dragons or the cult members doing the actual Cha-Chaing, and Lucy declared that it must be both or the ritual would be incomplete.

She emerged from their ramble to find that they had reached the campsite and her teammates were staring at her as if she had grown a second head. Well, except Erza. After all, she was used to this behavior by now. Lucy could practically hear the questions running through their minds, and she felt a little bad for Cobra who could actually hear them. He laughed softly and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"It's okay, Top Heavy. I can tune them out. I just have to listen to your soul and forget everyone else."

Lucy shivered slightly. Cobra had let slip once before that he liked the sound of her soul. It was an odd thing to hear, but it made her happy anyway. Everyone gathered around a small campfire (which Lucy had to remind Natsu not to eat several times) to discuss the plan of attack for the next day. Sentry duties were handed out soon after, and Lucy found that she and Cobra had first watch. The others drifted off to various tents while she remained at the fire with the poison slayer.

One good thing about the desert, the stars were more brilliant than anywhere else in Fiore. She leaned back on her arms to stare at them. She heard a slight shuffle nearby and glanced over to see Cobra doing the same.

"Tell me about them," he murmured.

So she began thinking about all of the things she knew about the constellations. She pointed out the zodiacs and some of the minor spirits. She thought about legends and half-forgotten stories from crumbling manuscripts. Occasionally, Cobra would hum or laugh at her thoughts.

After a while, Lucy's mind went blank and all Cobra could hear was a tremor of turmoil. He frowned. She did that sometimes. It had only started recently, but every now and then when he was around her, she just went silent. He could still hear her soul humming along with its sweet tune, but it was like her mind had simply vanished. He could see her thinking, but he couldn't hear the thoughts. At all. It bothered him because he'd never had that happen with anyone before, and he didn't know what could be causing it unless she was doing it on purpose.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" He asked. Wow, that was a question he never thought would come out of his mouth. Lucy looked equally stunned. She sat up and positively gaped at him.

"You can't hear it?"

"You just went blank," he admitted. He had never brought up the moments of silence before because he figured that Lucy must know about them, but it was more disconcerting to find that she was also clueless.

"Have I done it before?" She asked.

"Yeah, every now and then. We'll be talking and suddenly your mind just cuts off. I figured you must have found a way to block me out."

Lucy chewed on her lip as she pondered the new information. Then maybe he really didn't know about her feelings. Was she subconsciously so worried about him discovering it that she had developed a way to hide it from him without realizing? Better yet, could she learn to do it at will?

"Think you could help me learn how to do it at will?" She asked

"Well, we could try it and see. I like hearing your thoughts. They're more interesting than most people's, but if you want to learn, I can try to help. Might be good against an opponent someday," Cobra said. Lucy's mind ran through multiple scenarios where that could be helpful in a matter of seconds, and Cobra chuckled. He loved the way her mind flew so much faster than most people that he encountered, and in such detail. "So what were you thinking about when you went silent?"

And just like that, she was gone again. Cobra frowned. Whatever she was thinking, she clearly didn't want him to know, either consciously or unconsciously. Cobra wasn't used to secrets. Sure he was used to keeping secrets, but he wasn't used to them being kept from him. He didn't like it. He had grown to trust the celestial mage over the past several months, and the thought of her hiding something didn't sit well with him. Cobra didn't trust people easily, and he hoped the blonde never gave him a reason to stop trusting her. A small voice in his head whispered that such a thing might break him.

"That bad, huh?" Cobra asked finally. Lucy suddenly looked uncomfortable. Trying to get back to their easy habits, Cobra went the teasing route, "I mean, if it's just you picturing the two of us naked on a club table, I've already seen your thoughts on that, so you don't have to hide it now."

Lucy's whole face turned red in an instant. She'd forgotten about her first time meeting the former criminal before the mission to infiltrate Black Lightning. That feeling of wanting to ride him on whatever available surface presented itself hadn't really faded. It might have even grown as she'd gotten to know the man behind the scowl. Not that she would tell him that, unless he just happened to overhear her thinking it.

Lucy was trying to think of a response when Cobra suddenly tensed and stared into the night. He dodged to the side and a ball of flame hit the sand where he had been laying.

"Jellal!" Cobra yelled as he leaped toward the source of the fireball. "Up and at 'em. We've got some company."

Within moments Crime Sorciere and Team Natsu were all out of their tents and joining in the fray.

"How many?" Jellal yelled as he meteored towards Cobra.

"I hear about twenty," Cobra replied. He and Jellal stood back to back as they deflected and dodged attacks. "More on the way. Nobody's thinking specific numbers for that one, though."

The two separated as Cobra dove forward to shove his poison claws into the fire mage's shoulder. Cobra's arms rippled with purple scales, and his fingers dripped a poison mist. A blinding flash of light came from the camp, and he saw a man in a suit jumping back to Lucy's side from where he had landed a blow on a man in a black cape. The campfire and stars above provided the only light in the desert aside from the occasional burst of magic. Cobra heard an attack coming from his left and he dodged, catching the person's arm with his talons. He sent a dragon roar into the person's face and released the arm as he or she collapsed.

Very few of the attackers seemed to be using magic. He saw someone throwing up earth barriers, but Richard quickly melted them. Lucy attacked another cult member with her glowing blue whip as Loke punched at another with his fist full of light. A man in a horse costume fired arrows into the night, and Cobra heard several groans of pain. Erza had requiped into her lightning empress armor to deal with one of the mages who didn't seem to realize that his lightning magic was useless against her now. A clump of ice spikes shot up from the ground beneath another cult member.

Cobra searched out another opponent, but then he heard the 'others' coming. Lots of others. No wonder the initial attackers hadn't been thinking in specifics. There were at least a hundred of these fuckers.

"Jellal, we got a problem," Cobra yelled. Jellal used his meteor to bounce around knocking out the last of the initial attackers.

"How many?"

"At least a hundred."

"Erza, I recommend a tactical withdrawal," Jellal turned to the redhead who had appeared at his side.

"Agreed, I'm sensing a lot of magic power, and it seems to be concentrated in a few individuals. With our original plans, we could have taken them easily, but this fighting in the dark won't do us any good."

"Everyone, grab a partner and make your way back to the agreed upon point," Jellal said calmly. He grabbed Erza's wrist and the two disappeared into the dark. Gray ran off with Angel, while Sawyer and Richard took off in another direction. Meredy and Midnight followed. Natsu reached for Lucy, but she pulled away and searched desperately for Cobra. He ran to her side and grabbed her hand before sprinting into the night.

He heard Natsu call to Wendy before he let the silence of the desert envelop him.

With Cobra's hearing, the pair evaded several smaller parties of cult members as they picked their way through the desert. They were avoiding another such group when Lucy tripped in the dark and tumbled down a sand dune. Her hand slipped from Cobra's and he stared after her in horror before sprinting to follow her graceless roll straight into the middle of the largest group they had encountered.

Lucy's arms were seized before she could even recover from her fall. She felt herself being dragged through the sand. She struggled to gain her feet for some leverage, but they were pulling her too fast. Distantly, she heard Cobra roar. She knew he wouldn't risk hurting her by throwing a full poison dragon roar at the group. 'Loke!' She thought desperately. Her lion spirit appeared at her side and started pummeling the men holding her. Lucy was unceremoniously dropped, and she knew even as she climbed to her feet that she wouldn't be able to stay conscious much longer.

Blue light flowed from the whip in her hand as Lucy tried to break through the ranks of cult members to reach Cobra where she heard him fighting ahead. A purple mist surrounded him, and he lashed out all around, dodging anything they threw at him. But Lucy knew he couldn't take much more, and neither could she.

 _Cobra, go. Get the others. Come back for me_ , she thought. His head turned in her direction for a moment before he punched another cultist with his poison dragon claw. _Cobra please, they'll just capture us both if you don't leave now._

A shard of ice slashed at her arm, and Lucy dropped her whip as blood flowed from the new wound. Loke was distracted by her cry of pain, and he took an ice blade to the chest. He whispered his apologies as he disappeared into the spirit world. Lucy reached for her keys with her good hand, but the ice wizard kicked her in the chest. She fell back completely out of air and felt her already shaky consciousness fading quickly. She thought she heard Cobra scream her name, and she directed her last conscious thoughts at him, desperately hoping he could hear her over the other noise.

 _Cobra, go. I know you'll come back for me_ , she thought. And just before the darkness took over, _I love you._

* * *

Cobra stumbled into the meeting place half-dead. He vaguely recalled his first rambling conversation with Lucy. Maybe he would make a good zombie. The reminder of the blonde made him scream inside his head. He fell to his knees and the others who had already arrived gathered around him asking questions. Natsu yanked Cobra to his feet and demanded to know where Lucy was.

"Cult members. Too many. Took. Lucy," Cobra managed to say. Natsu dropped him in shock, and Wendy quickly scurried over to tend to the poison slayer's wounds.

"You left her there?" Natsu roared. He looked ready to attack the wounded man, but Erza and Jellal both held him back. "She trusted you! She wanted to go with you, and you abandoned her!"

Cobra closed his eye and sank into his misery. He heard the sky dragon slayer thinking about his wounds. The damage was extensive. Even after Lucy had fallen silent, Cobra kept fighting. He presumed she had been knocked out or had passed out. He knew she was still alive because her soul kept humming, albeit mutedly, after her thoughts vanished.

 _I love you._

How did she expect him to leave her after hearing that? Of course, in the end, he had left her. He'd been running low. Lucy had been dragged off into the desert, probably back to the cult's headquarters. He knew he didn't have the strength to save her right now. He needed the others.

"Tell us what happened," Erza said once Wendy had finished with him. Cobra sat up slowly. He was still tired, but nothing really hurt anymore.

"We were skirting a big group of Zeref worshippers. Lucy tripped. Fell down a sand dune right into the middle of them. I couldn't get to her. I don't know how many. Too many for the two of us. She told me to get you guys and come back for her. I didn't listen at first. I just kept fighting to reach her. She fought hard too for a while, but I think she got knocked out."

Cobra dropped his face into his hands. If he remembered how to cry, he was sure that he'd be doing so now.

"I kept fighting, but I wasn't strong enough to save her. Even while they were dragging her away, more and more cultists kept coming at me. So yeah, I left her."

He spat the last words out. Self-hatred flooded his system. Weak. Too weak to save the woman he loved. The woman who loved him. Cobra turned to the sky and roared his anguish. He curled his hands into fists as he tried to control the rage. Instead, he felt his hands transform into his dragon form. He looked at the members of Crime Sorciere and Team Natsu staring at him.

"But I also promised her I'd come back," he whispered. "So are you coming with me or not? Either way, I'm going to save Lucy."

* * *

Lucy struggled to consciousness in a damp cell. It was one of those cliché stone rooms with the iron bars, water dripping from the ceiling, and torches lining the walls outside. Her favorite. Her arms were restrained behind her back with magic cancelling cuffs. Her ankles were bound, as well. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious. Had Cobra had time to find the others, yet? Had the idiot even listened to her or was he captured, too?

She had no answers. Surprisingly there were also no villains waiting around to gloat about how they were going to either kill her for amusement or sacrifice her to a giant clock or insert other dark wizard device here. Lucy sighed. Someday she really needed to find out if this constant kidnapping thing was actually a subconscious fetish that she unknowingly found ways to feed.

After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes of epic boredom, Lucy heard someone running down the hall outside the cell. A Zeref worshipper came into view and threw open the cell door. Lucy struggled as he grabbed her bound hands and dragged her behind him. She kicked and bucked against his hold, but she only managed to slow him down a little. Apparently this was too much of a speed reduction as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She tried to kick at him but the angle was too awkward.

He carried her up a flight of stairs and into a large open room. It looked like a castle throne room, but really dark and dirty. And covered with bodies. Piles of black-cloaked bodies were strewn around the room. The man ran over the bodies not caring if he stepped on any of them in his haste to escape.

Suddenly, the man gave a grunt of pain and collapsed under her. Lucy squeaked in surprise as she hit the floor, but she quickly rolled to her back trying to get her bearings. She froze as she saw what had brought the man down. A bloody hole had appeared in the middle of his back. Standing in front of him was a very angry maroon-haired man with purple-scaled arms and claws covered in blood.

Despite his terrifying appearance, Lucy's heart leapt at the sight of Cobra. Who needed a knight in shining armor when there was a dragon waiting to rescue you?

"I wouldn't say that I was just waiting to rescue you, princess," Cobra said with a smirk. He yanked the cloak off of a nearby figure and began wiping the blood off his arm. Once he was sufficiently blood-free, Cobra knelt and removed a key ring from the dead man. He undid Lucy's restraints. She was pleased to find that her own key ring was still attached to her belt, though it seemed her whip had been left behind in the desert or carted off by someone else.

"We'll get you another one, now come on," Cobra said. He extended a hand down to her, but Lucy's legs still didn't seem to be working properly. With a long-suffering sigh, Cobra bent down and swept her up in his arms. Lucy leaned into him gratefully. She really did love this man.

"Is that what you've been trying to hide from me?" He asked. Lucy froze as she realized he had heard her thoughts. Why wasn't the crazy block thing working anymore?

"Probably because you already told me you loved me right before you got knocked out. Or passed out. Whichever." Cobra carefully stepped over more bodies in the hallway outside the throne room. He cocked his head to one side and headed left. Soon, Lucy heard the battle, too. But with her clearly wounded why was he heading _towards_ the sounds of battle?

"Calm down. Your pyromaniac is almost finished with them. I wish he'd quit playing around," Cobra muttered. Lucy giggled.

Natsu was indeed playing with the dark mages. Several bodies were scattered around him, but Natsu was trading blows without his magic with another cultist.

"Natsu, fucking take him out already. We've got places to be," Cobra growled. Natsu turned and grinned when he saw Lucy. The dark wizard took that moment to sock him in the jaw, but Natsu seemed completely unfazed. Fire appeared around his fist and he socked the man right back, but the dark wizard flew across the room and hit the wall with a meaty crack before falling to the floor.

"Luce, you're alright!" Natsu said. "Want me to kick this poison dick's ass for leaving you behind?"

"No, Natsu. I told the poison dick to go get you guys and come back for me."

"She loooooves him," Happy giggled above them.

"Can we stop discussing my dick and go find the others?" Cobra asked with a snarl as he completely ignored the blue cat. Lucy blushed at the innuendo, and Cobra's snarl turned into a laugh. "You know, now that you've declared your undying love for me, I think it's about time we talk about those thoughts you were having when we first met."

"Who said anything about 'undying' love? Undying is too much like 'unrequited' for my tastes," Lucy quipped.

"Who said anything about 'unrequited' love? I'd rather not have the taste of my peanut butter ruined, thanks very much."

"What about honey?"

"You can't ruin honey unless you spread it too thin."

Natsu quickly gave up trying to follow their conversation and ran off to find more people to beat up. Cobra and Lucy followed at a more sedate pace.

Cobra may not have actually said the words, but Lucy felt sure that he would. Sometime. Eventually. For now, she was content to lay in her dragon-in-shining-scales' arms and talk about nonsense. Maybe this relationship was a sorta fairy tale after all.


	4. Glitter in the Air

**A/N: This one's a bit shorter than the others. It's nice and fluffy, though! ALaViola (formerly Shattered-Nightmares712) also did CoLu week last summer and used this song, I really liked her story, and I defs recommend it. Thanks to Empress of Everything, LucyxAnyoneShipper, MistressAva, and Gwendolyn Winchester for reviewing! I love hearing from everyone. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :D**

 **Oh, and do you guys like the cover art? I drew it yesterday. I'm definitely better with words than artwork, but let me know what you think.**

 **Onwards!**

* * *

 **Day 4: Glitter**

 **Glitter in the Air (P!nk)**

The guild was preparing for a party. Lucy hadn't quite seen the need for preparation as the guild had parties every week without having to decorate, but Mira had insisted. It wasn't everyday that one of her matchmaking schemes paid off, after all. Lucy also wasn't convinced that Mira had actually had anything to do with it, either. Still, she supposed the takeover mage had a right to be excited for her brother's real engagement announcement.

She finished tying off the shimmering silver and green ribbon at the bottom of the pillar and looked around the hall. Elfman and Evergreen weren't around to actually help decorate for their party, she noticed. Mira probably wouldn't have let them do anything anyway. She was adamant that they needed to give her nieces and nephews pronto, so she kept chasing them out of the guild at every opportunity in the hopes that they would get to work on it.

Lisanna hurried past her with armloads of more bows and ribbon. The hall was already draped in enough green and silver to strangle everyone at the same time, so Lucy couldn't imagine where that load was going to fit. The three Exceeds were flitting through the rafters tying off more ribbons and bows while Bickslow's babies flew around dropping glitter on everyone. Lucy was pretty sure that last bit wasn't actually part of the decorating scheme. Cana was making out the list of alcohol, or at least, that's what she said she was doing. Honestly it just looked like she was sampling everything on said list.

Taking a seat at the bar, Lucy watched everyone happily. She was really glad that Elfman and Evergreen had finally admitted their feelings, though she was a little surprised at how quickly their relationship progressed after that.

Said couple walked through the doors at that moment.

"This place looks manly!" Elfman exclaimed. Evergreen swatted him with her fan, but it seemed to just be a habit at this point. Her eyes sparkled as she took in the hall. Of course, the sparkles could have actually been from the pile of glitter that the babies dumped on her head. She immediately started yelling at Bickslow, who just gave her his customary tongue-lolling grin.

Lucy giggled. She really loved her guild. The only thing missing was… Well, it couldn't be helped really. Lucy shook off the minor sad note in her day as Natsu and Gray started a glitter fight. So much had been dumped on everyone that there were piles all over the floor, and her teammates had decided to see who could cover the other in the most of the shimmery substance. She stooped down to scoop up a fistful of the stuff and lobbed it into the air at her partner. It hit him in the face, and he grinned at her before directing his own handful her way. She ducked, and the glitter hit Cana, spilling into her open mug.

The card mage looked down in dismay before catching sight of the culprit. It didn't take long for everyone in the guild to get involved. The party had officially started.

Eventually, Lucy found herself alone at a table just observing the rest of her family. Elfman and Evergreen were the only official new couple, but it seemed that everyone else had paired off, too. Natsu rarely left Lisanna's side when he was in the guild, and Gajeel couldn't be moved from Levy. Lyon and Sherria were visiting from Lamia Scale, and it seemed that Juvia was finally willing to give the ice-make mage a chance. Mira and Freed were inseparable, as were Gray and Cana. Even Wendy had Sherria, and Lucy had a hunch their "love" wouldn't remain strictly platonic as they grew older.

She sighed and drew pictures in the sheen of glitter on the tabletop. She really was happy for everyone. It was just hard to remember that when her own special someone was who knew where right now. She never knew when Cobra was going to pop up. Some nights she would wake up to him crawling into bed with her. She always thought it was a dream until she woke up to him making coffee and calling her Sugar. It was a stupid pet name, but once he explained how sugar could be poisonous, it made sense. Of course, she had argued that anything in large quantities could be toxic, which devolved into a discussion of whether or not an overabundance of kittens could cause heart failure.

Lucy smiled softly at the memory. Every night, she went to bed hoping she would wake up in his arms. When she missed him too much, she would stare at her communication lacrima for hours just hoping that it would light up with a call from him. She felt a little ridiculous during those times, but what of it?

A very drunk Master Makarov stood on the bar and raised his glass in a toast to the happy couple. Lucy lifted her wine glass and sipped at it with the rest. She wondered idly if the bits of glitter that had somehow found their way into her glass were toxic. Cobra would probably know.

"You don't seem as happy as you did earlier today," Erza said as she took a seat next to the blonde. Erza was the only one in the guild who knew about her relationship. And out of everyone, Erza was probably the best equipped to understand Lucy's feelings right now.

"I am happy," Lucy said. "It's just…"

"I understand," Erza said when she trailed off. Even when Crime Sorciere visited Fairy Tail, both Jellal and Cobra pretended they were not romantically involved with the two women. Everyone knew better when it came to Jellal and Erza, but the blue-haired man preferred his illusion of privacy. Erza wasn't particularly demonstrative with her affections anyway, so she didn't seem fazed by the ruse.

Cobra was another matter. He didn't think that Fairy Tail would accept him dating the so-called light of the guild. They might be okay with him coming to visit with Jellal, but nobody even understood why he and Lucy seemed to get along so well. It never occurred to anyone that the two could actually be an item. Even Mira seemed oblivious to the idea.

Erza and Lucy talked quietly about the engaged couple and the other evident though unofficial pairs throughout the room. The redhead didn't bring up their shared struggle again. Both found it better not to discuss it in the guildhall. Too many dragon slayers with overly keen ears hanging around.

Gray and Loke were dancing on a table to cheers from the guild when the doors to the hall burst open. A cool night breeze blew in as Crime Sorciere strode in. Lucy tried to tamp down her excitement at the sight of her boyfriend. It wouldn't do to look too happy to see him; might blow their cover. She stared into her wine as Jellal apologized for intruding and Master welcomed the independent guild to join them for the celebration.

Lucy was studying the swirling glitter in her glass intently when a hand reached out to lift up her chin. Her brown eyes rose to his single indigo eye. He smiled down at her tenderly. It was a look usually reserved for early morning cuddles and hesitant goodbyes. He had never looked at her this way in public. But he was just full of surprises tonight.

"I missed you, Sugar," he said without even trying to be quiet. Then, he leaned down and kissed her thoroughly in front of her entire guild. Lucy was utterly shocked, but her surprise was washed away in the relief of his kiss. It had been far too long. Her hands reached up to grab his hair and pull him in closer as his hands fell to caress her waist.

When she finally came up for air, she saw Cobra smirking mischievously at her from a couple of inches away. She turned to look at her guild without removing her hands from his hair. Lucy had rarely seen the guild silent, but now every member was staring at her in mute shock. She rose slightly to bury her bright red face in Cobra's chest. She felt a small laugh rumble through him as he held her close.

The movement seemed to snap everyone out of their daze and the two were instantly bombarded with questions. Lucy's happiness bubbled up within her. She would have preferred not having to answer so many questions, and she felt a tiny prick of guilt at stealing the spotlight at Evergreen's engagement party. Still, she was thrilled that he was finally claiming her in public. She didn't have to hide anymore. And to make it even better, her guild made it obvious that Cobra's fears about their rejection were completely unwarranted.

When they finally made it back to her apartment in the quiet that is too late to be night but too early to be morning, Lucy asked him why he changed his mind. He held her tightly in the bed that he thought was too pink and too soft but oh so like Lucy and thought about his answer.

"I heard your sadness before the doors even opened. It was a small note, but I didn't like it. When Makarov explained why you guys were partying, I understood where the sadness was coming from. So I decided to fix it." He kissed her forehead lightly before adding, "And I knew their faces would be hilarious."

Lucy smacked him lightly, but she giggled as she did.

"By the way, I meant to ask this at the guild, but everybody was too busy yelling at us: why the hell was everyone covered in glitter?"

Instead of answering, Lucy just laughed before pulling him in for a kiss. The distance would still be hard to handle, but that was okay. She wasn't afraid of a few lonely nights since she knew that he would always show up and do just the thing she needed to take the loneliness away.

 **A/N: I would also like to give kudos to the author who first mentioned 'sugar' as a potentially poisonous substance because I really loved that, and I feel like a total cad for not remembering who it was. If said person actually happens to read this (which would be super sweet) please let me know, so I can give you properly attributed props.**


	5. Rumors

**A/N: Angsty fluff ahead. My favorite flavor :)**

 **I was going to wait to post this, but I just got so excited by MistressAva and papalogia's wonderful reviews and all the CoLu love on Tumblr that I decided to do it now. Thank you so much for reading and for all the love you're giving this story! (And I would love to participate in CoLu week this year!)**

 **Also, papalogia let me know that it's GemNika who came up with the "sugar" pet name. She's one of my favorite writers on here, so huge shout out to her, and my apologies for not having that information when the actual story was posted.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Day 5: Rumors**

 **Rumors (Adam Lambert ft. Tove Lo)**

Lucy sighed and set the magazine down on the bar top. She took a sip of her milkshake as she glared at the latest issue of Sorcerer's Weekly. Actual content must be slim again because lying before her was yet another article claiming to have insider information that Lucy and Natsu were an official couple and had spent a romantic weekend at Akane Resort.

She snorted at the notion. While she had spent the weekend there with him, the rest of their team was also present because they were working a job as extra security for some high profile business mogul. He'd requested them specifically as he was an old friend of her father's, both before and after Jude Heartfilia's lost wealth. As far as she could tell the man wasn't really in any danger, but she knew that sometimes the wealthy could be paranoid. They'd had plenty of free time, which is probably where the pictures of she and Natsu playing in the ocean had come from.

"Something wrong, Lucy?" Mira asked.

"Just these stupid reporters rehashing the same bullshit rumors," Lucy said. She raked a hand through her hair angrily. "Inside source my ass. Everyone in the guild knows who I'm actually dating. I wonder where they picked up the 'information' this time."

"Who knows," Mira said with a shrug. "You know that our friends in other guilds still believe you and Natsu will end up together. Unless you come clean about your real relationship, the rumors are going to continue."

"I know that. And I know why Cobra doesn't want the world to know. For such a hardass dragon slayer who claims to know how capable and self-reliant I can be, he sure worries enough about my safety," Lucy said. She scowled at her half-empty glass. "Which is bullshit, too. He's more worried about looking like he has a weakness than whether or not any dark guild will try to exploit said 'weakness.'"

"Lucy, you know Cobra doesn't think of you that way. You aren't a weakness anymore than you're a weak person. I'm sure he really is just worried about putting you in unnecessary danger," Mira said soothingly. "After all, you do have a penchant for getting kidnapped."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Lucy said. She flung her head down onto the bar.

Just the previous week (before the Akane mission) Lucy had to be rescued by Gray from a group of bandits the team had been tracking. Lucy stepped away from camp for a pee break and ended up tied up and unable to reach her spirits. The alarmingly common situation had done nothing for her self-esteem, and she really was considering visiting a shrink about the possibility of a subconscious kidnapping fetish. Cobra had showed up at her apartment the next day, and after laughing his ass off for a while, told her she needed to take her training with her spirits more seriously.

As if Capricorn didn't tell her that every time she summoned him to practice her hand-to-hand combat. Along with comments on her weight and diet. At least Cobra kept that kind of information to himself if it even crossed his mind.

"Anyway, who cares what the magazines say?" Mira asked. "The people who matter know the truth, and that's all that counts."

With that, the barmaid moved off to pour drinks for other members. Lucy raised her head from the bar and sighed dramatically. It should be that simple. And really, Lucy didn't care what anyone outside of her guild thought about her love life. People had been speculating about her and Natsu since she joined the guild and teamed up with him. It seemed impossible to anyone that a male and a female could be best friends without being physical or romantic. Never mind the fact that the male in this scenario didn't have a romantic bone in his body, and despite his infatuation with Lisanna, Lucy wasn't convinced that her partner even knew what physical attraction was.

She still remembered the first time Sorano had showed Cobra an article like this a few weeks after they officially became a couple. He had arrived at her apartment at three in the morning, and instead of just crawling into bed with her as he normally did, he launched into an angry spiel about wanting to know if he could really trust her and feeling like she was stomping on his heart and how he really wanted a burger laced with arsenic. Come to think of it, he was probably more than a little crazy from sleep deprivation when that first fight occurred. He had apologized in the morning, and Lucy thought that would be the end of the jealous rampages.

Nope.

Nearly every time an article like this appeared, Cobra showed up a day or two later full of anger and insecurity. He could read her thoughts, but since she had perfected the thought blocking she had accidentally discovered while hiding the fact that she was in love with him, he said he could never be sure if she was being honest even in her mind. It didn't matter that she almost never blocked him out intentionally. She didn't know if she could take another rant. Her heart hurt at the thought, and she dreaded another night of feeling as if he didn't trust her.

"Hey, Luce! Let's take this job!" Natsu said waving a flyer at her. Lucy grabbed it and scanned it quickly.

"Take care of a couple Vulcans on the edge of a town? Sure, sounds fun. Where's Erza and Gray?"

"I think they left on a job earlier this morning. I thought just you and me could take this one. Plus Happy, of course."

"Aye, sir!" The blue Exceed exclaimed. Lucy giggled at them. But then the magazine on the bar caught her attention again, and her mood soured. It would probably piss Cobra off more if she took a job with just Natsu right after a rumor like that started circulating, never mind the fact that this particular rumor was pretty much constantly in circulation. Lucy pursed her lips in thought.

"You know what? Yeah, let's do it," Lucy said. She leaped off the bar stool and shouted to Mira that they were taking the Vulcan request. A few guildmates shouted good luck and see you soon as they left. Lucy headed for the train station, but Natsu dragged her towards the edge of town instead.

"Come on, Luce. Let's walk this time," Natsu said. His voice held a note of panic at the thought of taking the train.

"But if we do that, this job will take at least two days including travel time back. If not three."

"I know, but, we never do this anymore. Just you and me walking through the woods, camping out, fighting monsters. You're always in such a rush to get back to the guild."

Lucy felt a little guilty. She actually couldn't remember the last time that she and Natsu had done a job where she didn't worry about hurrying home in case Cobra decided to pop in for a visit. He never called ahead, and she didn't want to miss the chance of seeing him. Looking at Natsu's pleading face, she realized that she had been neglecting her best friend. She didn't like that feeling.

"You're right, Natsu," she said sadly. "I haven't really been a best friend to you lately, have I?"

"Luce, that's not what I meant," Natsu said as he pulled her into a one-armed hug. "You'll always be my best friend. But yeah, I do kind of miss you."

"We both do, Lucy," Happy interjected.

"Even though we do jobs together all the time still, it's different, Luce. Let's do this one like the early days. Just the three of us off on adventures, not caring about the rest of the world. It'll be awesome!"

Lucy giggled at his enthusiasm and nodded.

"Yeah! Just, how about try not to destroy things too much so maybe we actually get the whole reward this time, huh?"

"No promises," Natsu said. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Lucy ran just behind him with Happy flying at their side. It reminded her of Hargeon, running from the Rune Knights after Natsu destroyed the port. This was exactly what she needed: her two best friends and a new adventure.

* * *

Three days later, Lucy stumbled into the guild plotting her partner's demise. Said partner trailed behind her offering apologies and trying to get her to talk to him. It had only taken them half a day to reach the town, and then half an hour to take care of the Vulcan problem. Natsu actually hadn't destroyed too much of the forest, and they got the whole reward.

Of course, then it took them two days of getting lost and ending up in Crocus before Lucy declared they were taking the damn train whether Natsu liked it or not. Two days of wandering through forests, getting dirt and bug bites in uncomfortable places, struggling through swamps, fighting off overgrown forest creatures that she wasn't getting paid to destroy, and getting nearly fried by the pyro when he got a little too excited taking out one of the animals that attacked them.

She was so done with Natsu for a while.

"Welcome back, Lucy," Mira said with a bright smile as the celestial mage took a seat at the bar. Instead of replying, Lucy immediately launched her face into the wood of the bar. Mira quickly supplied the girl's usual order.

"Lucy," a voice said at her shoulder.

"Go away, Natsu," Lucy said without looking up. "I really don't want to talk to you. For like a week. At least."

"While I'm glad to hear that you want to stay away from the fire freak, I really hate that you just mistook my voice for his."

Lucy looked up at that to find her very unamused boyfriend glaring at her. Shit. She had forgotten all about Sorcerer's Weekly and the stupid rumors. How long had he been waiting here?

"I just got in yesterday. I crashed in your apartment by the way. The leaky sink faucet is fixed, but you're out of bleach. And I think someone ate all your food before I arrived."

Lucy blinked as she tried to form a cohesive thought. She wasn't quite sure where to begin. Thanks for being so handy? Okay, I'll pick some up on the way home? Who the hell ate all my food? Why aren't you yelling at me about the article?

She dismissed them all in favor of thanking Mira for her shake. Cobra winced next to her as he heard the barrage of thoughts warring in her head. For one thing it was loud and damned hard to make sense of, but mostly it just made him feel guilty.

"Hey," he said a little hesitantly. "I thought we could go out tonight. Grab some dinner. Maybe walk in the park?"

"Are you asking me on a date?" Lucy asked.

"Isn't your boyfriend allowed, nay supposed to take you on dates?"

"But we've never done that."

"No time like the present to start, right?"

Lucy stared into her shake, but she wasn't really interested in drinking it. She was distantly aware of Mira hovering nearby to eavesdrop. She couldn't seem to form clear thoughts. Cobra wanted to take her on a date? In public? Sure the guildhall was kind of public and since Evergreen and Elfman's engagement party he was fine with being affectionate there, but actually out in public? She didn't know what to think.

Cobra's sigh pulled her out of her confused thoughts.

"I don't know how to do this," he said. "I don't know how to be in a relationship, and I know that's been hurting you. I never noticed it before because I don't think you were completely aware of it yourself, but…I did some thinking over the last two days while I was waiting for you to find your way back. And you deserve better."

Was he trying to break up with her? Because this was seriously starting to sound like a break up speech from one of her novels. Lucy felt a moment of panic at the thought of not having Cobra in her life. Sure things weren't perfect with him so far away all the time, and the whole rumor rage was really starting to wear on her, but all things considered she was still deeply in love with him. Was he no longer feeling the same?

"Stop thinking. Right now," Cobra commanded. Lucy blinked at him but her thoughts kept running in the same circles, and his scowl didn't help anything. Suddenly, he grabbed a handful of her hair and slammed his lips into hers. Lucy may have stopped breathing, but she definitely stopped thinking as she sank into the kiss.

She whimpered in frustration when he pulled away and only opened her eyes when he chuckled at her. He moved his hands to her cheeks so she couldn't look away from him.

"I love you," he said. "The only way you're getting rid of me is if you decide to walk away. I wasn't trying to give you a break up speech. Again, I know jack shit about relationships. So clearly this is another thing that my lack of experience nearly fucked up."

"Then what—?" Lucy started to speak, but his lips silenced hers.

"Just stop talking for a sec, Sugar. I'm bad enough at long speeches without you interrupting, not that I mind having an excuse to kiss you repeatedly," he said with a smirk. His face turned serious again. "I'm trying to apologize for hurting you. I'm an asshole. You knew this when you fell in love me. But I'm only supposed to be an asshole to other people. I'm sorry for making you think that I doubted you, in both our relationship and your abilities as a mage. I'm sorry I made you think I saw you as a liability. And, possibly most importantly, I'm sorry for being jealous, even for a moment, of that fire fuck."

Lucy giggled, and he kissed her again.

"Giggling counts as an interruption so cut it out," he said with a mock glare. "I have so many things to apologize for, but tonight, I want to start to make it right. So, will you let me take you out to dinner?"

She leaned in to kiss him before responding.

"I would love to go to dinner with you, Cobra," she said. He grinned at her and leaned to whisper in her ear.

"You should really start calling me by my name, you know."

"I hoped you would tell me that at some point, Erik," she whispered back. He shivered at her breath moving over his ear and the sound of his name on her lips.

"Right, quick dinner then back to your place, yes?" He asked.

"That sounds like an amazing first date," she said. Lucy hopped off the barstool and pulled her boyfriend to the doors.

Once they were safely away, Mira said, "Well, at least that's over. Everyone go back to what you were doing now."

The guild finally unfroze from their blatant eavesdropping to discuss the couple. Lucy was blissfully unaware that she had been the center of attention through their entire conversation. Cobra decided he would keep her in that state of bliss. He also thought it best to heed the demon woman's advice and not tell Lucy about the tongue-lashing (and actual beating) he received upon arriving at the guild in a poisonous rage the day before. He wanted to still be pissed that she had nearly dislodged his teeth, but then again, she had probably saved his relationship from certain destruction.

He could let something like a bruised jaw go if it meant keeping his light by his side.

 _I love you, Sugar,_ he thought.

 _And I love you, Erik._


	6. Family Affaire

**A/N: This is the longest one yet! Many things I did not expect occurred, but it's probably my favorite so far, too. Thanks to everyone who's followed, favorited, and reviewed! I'm super stoked that so many people are liking this series.**

* * *

 **Day 6: Family**

 **Family Affair (Mary J. Blige)**

The world was ending. The apocalypse was upon them. The zombie horde would be knocking at the guild doors soon. Armageddon. Zeref summoning Acnologia (again). These were the only viable options for the sight in front of Lucy.

 _I hardly think a man's proposal is a sign of the apocalypse_ , Cobra thought. Being able to talk to Lucy through thought was incredibly handy. Since they had accidentally discovered that she could hear his thoughts when they were directed at her specifically, Cobra rarely opened his mouth anymore.

 _It might be a sign when it's that man doing the proposing,_ Lucy thought back.

She had a point. After years of pining and denial, followed by further years of accepting and hiding, Jellal Fernandes was on one knee in a meadow offering a ruby engagement ring to Erza Scarlet. As adorable as the scene was, Lucy was sure something terrible must be happening, and Jellal was aware of it. Otherwise, he never would have gotten around to asking Erza to marry him.

 _Give the man some credit, Sugar._ Lucy rolled her eyes at him. She flinched as Erza's squeal resounded through the clearing. Yes, Titania, Queen of the Fairies, squealed.

Yup, the world was definitely ending. Initially Lucy thought they had at least until tomorrow to kiss their asses goodbye, but now she was pretty sure they had an hour at most.

 _Stop being so dramatic_ , Cobra thought. _Besides, we need to go congratulate them, so no speculating out loud on the whole end of the world thing._

 _You're just upset because I'm right._

 _Well, I hardly think that it will be a zombie horde. Or Zeref for that matter. My money's on Natsu._

 _Fire and brimstone, I see your point. However, I think it more likely that Erza's squeal just set off a chain reaction in the bowels of Earthland and we have 58 minutes until we're all blasted to Edolas in absurdly tiny pieces._

Cobra bit back a laugh as they reached the newly engaged couple. Erza immediately pulled Lucy into a bone crushing hug against her armor-clad bosom. Jellal finally came to the blonde's rescue, and she wheezed out her congrats as she tried to determine how many ribs were broken. She figured she was in the clear when Erza pulled Cobra into an equally ferocious hug, and Lucy nearly keeled over laughing as her boyfriend's face turned blue.

"Thank you for both joining us," Jellal said as they headed back to their campsite. "I had hoped the reports on a new branch of Black Lightning were false. I mostly wanted the opportunity to bring Erza here, and I wanted our two closest friends with us."

"Hang on a second," Lucy said. "I thought I recognized this place. Did you just propose to Erza in the same spot where you lied to her about having a fiancée?"

They had to stop for a ten minute break to wait for Cobra to stop laughing and pick himself up off the ground. Apparently he had missed out on this story after joining the guild. Meredy must be better at keeping secrets than Lucy had thought.

After camping out that night, the four headed back to Fairy Tail. Lucy could already feel the hangover that would come the morning after Erza's engagement party. But it sure would be fun getting to that point. She knew that Jellal would have to stay for his own party, which if Fairy Tail held true to form would last at least a week. That meant Lucy got to keep her dragon slayer by her side for seven whole days and nights. If not more.

Cobra arched an eyebrow at her musings, but he didn't interrupt. He was too busy enjoying the extremely explicit images flashing through her mind anyway.

Erza nearly threw the doors off their hinges when they reached the guild. It was only about half full, but as soon as Mira caught sight of the red stone on Erza's left hand, Lucy was pretty sure the rest of the guild would rush in thinking they were being attacked due to the sheer volume of the She-Devil's ecstatic screech.

"You're being awfully sarcastic lately," Cobra said a bit loudly.

"Maybe you're rubbing off on me finally," Lucy replied.

"What?" He asked.

"You know, maybe I'm picking up your less amazing but more amusing traits."

"Lucy, I hate to admit this, but I can't hear a word you're saying to me," Cobra said. He looked truly devastated by the knowledge. "Oh god, this is worse than when I fought Natsu and he screamed in my ears. Do you think it will come back?"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Lucy yelled. Granted, as long as the squealing mob of females around Erza maintained their current pitch, it would probably be a while before Cobra's hearing returned to normal. "Maybe you should go take a walk and come back when it's calmed down a bit."

Cobra nodded and walked shakily out of the guild. She shook her head after him before turning to join the mass of estrogen (plus Elfman of all people) giggling and cooing over the couple. Jellal looked like he would much rather join Cobra, but there was no way they would let him escape for quite a while.

* * *

As he walked around Magnolia waiting for his hearing to return to normal, Cobra thought about something he had heard the night before. Sometimes while Lucy slept, he liked to listen to her soul. It soothed him in ways he'd never imagined. Sometimes he would listen in on her dreams, too, but the previous night he had just listened to the constant hum of her soul. As their relationship progressed it seemed at times that their souls would mesh together to sing a slightly different song than either sang alone. That was his favorite sound.

He had been listening to that merging of songs when he heard a new note in it. The new tone didn't seem to belong to either of them. Cobra thought it was probably just a change in their rhythm together. It had happened before. Still, the sound enchanted him in a way those other changes hadn't. He wanted to get her alone and see if the sound was still there or if it had been only a fleeting change in the song of their souls.

* * *

Once Mira had sufficiently recovered from her raptures, she started placing calls to all of their friendly guilds. By the next day, members from Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Sabertooth and all rolled into town for the celebration. The rest of Crime Sorciere had arrived, as well.

Looking around the guild, Lucy loved how her family had grown over the years. So many of the people in this room had started off as enemies, but now they would come in an instant in either grief or celebration. Lyon and Juvia were dancing together. Lyon had tried to resurrect a demon of Zeref nearly a decade ago before Gray kicked some sense into him. Juvia had been a member of Phantom Lord and had tried to kill Gray while Gajeel, who was now having a drinking contest with Lily, had beat the shit out of both Lucy and Levy. Even Lily had tried to kill most of the Earthland guildmembers while in Edolas.

Jellal was speaking to Millianna and Kagura. It had taken a long time for them to forgive him for Simon's death in the Tower of Heaven, but with Erza's help, they had managed. Meredy and Mira were chatting animatedly, presumably comparing matchmaking notes. Lucy still found it hard to believe that when she was a preteen, the pink-haired woman who loved pairing up her friends had tried to kill Gray to avenge Ur's death.

Sting was arm wrestling with Natsu while Rogue watched in a bored fashion. The twin slayers had gone from heartless pricks to two of the guild's closest friends, and Lucy had never held a grudge against Rogue for his future self killing her future self, though it had been disturbing to watch.

Laxus and the Thunder Legion were offering Erza their congratulations, having just arrived from a mission. They had attacked their own guildmates and forced everyone to fight each other. But now they were as loyal to Fairy Tail as anyone else in the room. Lucy half wondered if Fairy Tail would end up welcoming Zeref with open arms if he decided to stop trying to end the world. Lucy sighed at the thought, as she knew that would probably entail beating him senseless first. After all, that was the main way that Fairy Tail made friends.

Actually, looking around the room, Blue Pegasus was the only guild that didn't have members who had at one point been enemies of Fairy Tail. Well, unless you counted Nichiya, and no one thought of him at all when they could help it.

"And then there's the Seis," Cobra whispered in her ear. Lucy shivered happily. She hadn't seen him come in, let alone come up behind her. She smiled as she turned to him, but her smile slipped when she saw his expression. He was carefully keeping his thoughts to himself, but Lucy could tell exactly what he was thinking anyway.

"Ah yes, the group of murderous mages who manhandled me and managed to merge me with a magical metronome," she said trying to keep a straight face.

"Could definitely NOT be classified as a metronome, but I deign to be delighted by your dedication to the difficult drudgery of dealing with such dastardly dramatic devices," he replied with a smile. Lucy placed a hand on his cheek.

"Erik, the Oracion Seis hasn't existed for a long time. When I first encountered you, you were a different person. The second time, you were someone else, too. The man in front of me is not the same man who poisoned Erza, tried to release Nirvana, or tried to sacrifice me to a clock. The same is true for everyone of Crime Sorciere."

He followed her gaze to his guildmates. Macbeth was actually awake for once and carrying on a conversation with Master Makarov not far from Cobra and Lucy. Sorano and her sister Yukino were surrounded by the boys from Blue Pegasus; Sorano seemed torn between falling for their flirting and protecting Yukino from the evil men. Richard and Jura of Lamia Scale were comparing notes on possible locations of Richard's brother. Sawyer was stuffing his face with Droy while Jet tried to talk to him about speed magic.

Cobra's eyes wandered back to his girlfriend. She watched him as he watched his friends, and she smiled as she saw the darkness lift a little with each one he viewed. Lucy was right. The damned woman was usually right.

"Everyone in this room is our family now. No matter who they were in the past or what they did, we're all family now."

"Well said, Lucy," Master Makarov said quietly. Cobra heard him thinking, _And that is why you are the light of our guild. You see the brightness in others, and your own shine brings it forth even more._

Cobra didn't think he could love the blonde celestial wizard any more than he did in that moment. He heard her soul swelling happily with the same love for him, and he closed his eye to listen closer to the hum of their souls twining together. His eye snapped open as he heard it again; it was the same note from the night before.

Cana came to drag Lucy off to dance with her and the rest of the girls. Cobra followed her with his eyes as his ears strained to listen to her soul. He managed to pick out the strange new sound. It wasn't a part of either of them, and yet it seemed to be made from them both.

Cobra's eye widened in something like horror as a new thought occurred. Was she? No, she couldn't be, right? He needed a second opinion. Cobra strolled across the guild toward the Thunder Legion. He couldn't recall ever having an actual conversation with any of them before, and he knew that Evergreen was still holding a bit of a grudge over him stealing the spotlight with Lucy at Evergreen's engagement party. Luckily he didn't need to talk to her.

"Bickslow, can I talk to you for a moment?" The group was surprised, but the seith mage didn't argue. He just followed Cobra to a corner away from the main congregation of the guild.

"This might be a little awkward, but I know you can see souls, sort of like how I can hear them. I need a second opinion on something."

"I'm guessing you heard something off about cosplayer's soul and you want me to take a look?" Cobra just nodded. Bickslow took off his visor to get a better view and tried to discreetly stare across the guildhall at the blond woman dancing with Cana and Levy.

After a moment, Bickslow started cackling and Cobra hit the floor with a thud. Hearing the commotion, Lucy looked up to see her guildmate laughing hysterically and her boyfriend flat on his face. She ran over immediately and knelt by Cobra.

"Bickslow, what did you do to him?" Lucy asked. She assumed he had played one of his pranks on the slayer, though she couldn't imagine what kind of prank it was.

"Wasn't me, Cosplayer," he said with a grin. "But I'd wait and let him tell you about it tomorrow. Erza might kill all three of us if he tells you right now."

He waved and headed back to his group, but he paused after a few steps to add, "And you might want to lay off the drinks tonight. I don't think your man's heart can take it." He cackled again and strolled away.

"Well that was cryptic," Lucy muttered. Cobra groaned into the floor, and Lucy gently helped him roll over. He blinked at the ceiling for a moment before focusing on her face.

"Can we go home now?" He asked.

"It's so early, though," Lucy whined.

"And you said yourself that the celebrating would go on for at least a week. You've got six more days of this to look forward to," he said. He reached up to touch her cheek. "Let's go home so I can hold you."

 _How could I possibly say no to that?_ She thought.

 _Exactly_.

Cobra kept his thoughts carefully sealed away as they strolled to Lucy's apartment hand-in-hand. How the hell was he supposed to tell his girlfriend that she was pregnant?

* * *

Bickslow really didn't mean to tell anyone, but it was just so damn funny. Of course Evergreen and Freed wanted to know why Cobra wanted to talk to him and why the snake man collapsed. He could tell Laxus was curious, too. He tried to settle for nonchalant when he explained that Cobra had heard something weird about Cosplayer's soul and wanted Bickslow to take a look.

"So, what was up with her soul?" Laxus asked. Bickslow tried to think of something to say that wouldn't really be lying but wouldn't have Erza trying to kill him tonight, but his babies had other ideas.

"Two souls! Two souls!" They chanted excitedly.

"What do they mean she has two souls?" Freed asked. His brow furrowed in confusion. Evergreen was the first to understand.

"Oh. Oh my. No wonder the poor man collapsed," she said as she started furiously fanning herself. Realization settled on Laxus and a wide range of emotions dashed across his face before he settled back on his usual scowl. Freed just looked even more confused by his teammate's reactions.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," he said. "Wouldn't that be dangerous? Has another soul latched onto her? It could be malevolent couldn't it? I've never heard of such a thing. I must do some research. Perhaps there is some way that we can help."

Bickslow couldn't take the rune mage's rambling anymore, and practically shouted, "For Mavis's sake Freed, Cosplayer's not possessed, she's fucking pregnant!"

The total silence of the guildhall alerted Bickslow to his error. Now Erza wasn't the only one who would want to murder him; Cosplayer was going to be livid that the entire guild and all of their friends knew before she did.

All eyes were turned towards Bickslow, and his teammates scooted as far away from him as they could without obviously running away as Erza advanced on him.

"What was that, Bickslow?"

"Erm… Nothing, just ahem… ah… that is…"

"Cosplayer! Pregnant!" His babies shouted helpfully. Shit.

"What?!" Another voice screeched from the doorway. Apparently the woman in question had forgotten her whip at the bar after she laid it down to dance with the others. Afraid that it would get lost for good with so many new people around, she had insisted on going back for it only to step through the doors as Bickslow's babies made their announcement to the otherwise silent guild.

"Motherfuck," Cobra muttered. "I wanted to tell you when we made it back to the apartment."

"What?!" Lucy shrieked again. Cobra winced.

"Sugar, calm down."

"Calm down? How the hell am I supposed to calm down? Shit, this explains why Bickslow said I should stay away from drinking tonight. And why he thought Erza would be pissed. Shit. Fucking damnit, Erik. This is the second engagement party you've stolen the spotlight on. And I'm… I mean, shouldn't I have been the first person to know? Not the last! And what… What are we going to do? What… I… Oh holy monkey balls…"

"Lucy," Erza said stonily from across the hall. Lucy stopped her babbling and pacing as she stood frozen in fear waiting for her friend to walk up to her and beat her to death for ruining her engagement party. She would accept her punishment, even though it was totally Bickslow's fault. And kind of Cobra's. She was the innocent one here. In a certain light.

Everyone in the guild held their breath as Titania stalked up to Lucy. Only to envelop her in a giant, yet surprisingly gentle hug.

"Congratulations, Lucy. We're both taking big steps in our lives. I'm so happy for you, and I can't wait to be an aunt," Erza said as she stepped back with a huge smile. She held Lucy's hands a moment longer before switching into demon mode in an instant with a sword at Cobra's throat.

"I should slay you now for polluting Lucy's honor. But as I prefer that my niece or nephew not grow up without his or her father, I expect you to make an honest woman of her with all due haste."

"Well, I was already going to propose to her on our trip, but Jellal stole the fucking moment," Cobra said. Once again, the guild held its collective breath as Cobra pulled something from his pocket and knelt in front of Lucy.

"I didn't plan to do this in front of every major guild in Fiore, but hell, why not? Since the day I met you (well, officially met you) in that club before we took on Black Lightning, you've been turning shit upside down for me. Everything I thought I knew about my life, my powers, my own soul, you shook that shit right the hell up. And I've loved every minute of it. I didn't get you a big ass rock because I know you'll just lose it the next time you get kidnapped and I have to come save the kidnappers from your insults and mindnumbing wit."

Cobra opened the box and pulled out a locket. His throat felt really dry, and he was painfully aware of everyone's thoughts bent solely on his words and actions. This was so embarrassing, but if Lucy smiled, it would make it all worth it. He'd do anything for her smile.

"This locket used to be in your jewelry box," he said.

 _Mom's locket,_ Lucy thought. She stared at the gold, heart-shaped locket in wonder.

 _You bet, Sugar._

"I made a few changes, though. The purple lacrima was made from some of my venom. The blue lacrima is from Aquarius's water jug. I'll let you look at the inside for yourself in a second, but first, I gotta know, Sugar: Are we getting married or what?"

There were a few boos at his final statement after the (somewhat mental) but mostly perfect proposal up to that point, but Lucy just giggled and dropped to her knees in front of her poison dragon slayer.

"Of course we are," she said. "I would say no, but I'm pretty sure Erza would take that as an invitation to demolish you, and she is right about something rather important: this baby will need us both."

Cobra kissed her swiftly before latching the locket around her neck. Lucy opened it to find a photo of her parents on one side, and a photo of her asleep with her arms draped around a half-naked Cobra, whose head was on her chest, on the other.

"When did—?"

 _Meredy. Moonshadow incident,_ he explained. He helped her to her feet as the guild rushed them, with Erza at the forefront. Cobra internally sighed. They weren't going to be getting out of here anytime soon. He looked at his fiancée and smiled anyway. All he wanted to do was go home and listen to the souls of his wife and unborn child, but for now, he guessed hanging out with their extended family was okay, too.

After all, with these new revelations, the celebrating might extend to two weeks. A whole 14 days, at least, with his love. Lucy heard his thought and winked at him over the heads of her friends. Fourteen days for now, and so many more to come after.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh, and shout out to Apriiil, which is where I got the idea of Bickslow being able to see baby souls. I figured it was just a step from there for Cobra to be able to hear them. Also just check her out because she has toooons of stuff, particularly some great Bixlu, Shattered is my favorite.**

 **There's still one more story left in this series so stay tuned!**


	7. Secret Journey

**A/N: And so, our journey comes to a close. There's a lot of introspection in this chapter, so I hope that's cool. I had so much fun writing this series, and I'm so glad that people have enjoyed it. Thanks for reading :)**

* * *

 **Day 7: Journey**

 **Secret Journey (The Police)**

The forest was largely silent as Cobra trudged through it on his way back to Magnolia. He rubbed absently at the bandages on his side covering a partially healed gash from his most recent run-in with the followers of Zeref. The man who gave him the wound wouldn't be hurting anyone again, though.

It was his final mission with Crime Sorciere, at least his final one as a member of the independent guild. A small part of him felt guilty for leaving. Zeref's dark magic and his worshippers had plagued all parts of Cobra's life. He had joined Jellal trying to find some sort of purpose, and taking out any semblance of the great evil that had so affected his life seemed like as good an idea as any at the time. Jellal preached it as atonement for their sins, but Cobra really only saw it as a chance at payback.

He had changed so much over the decades of his life. From a small friendless boy shackled and whipped, to an angry young man who cared only for fighting, to an even angrier young man who felt he had nothing to live for. And finally he had come here.

He stepped out of the forest to gaze down at Magnolia. The Fairy Tail guild hall rose proudly on the far side of town. His fiancée would be there waiting for him. His light after so many years of darkness. Cobra wanted to rush to her, but he paused to continue his thoughts. He felt as though this were another turning point for him. He hadn't even realized when the blonde woman started to help him change. He was already too far into the transformation to back out when it became clear just what she had done to him, or rather, what she had done for him.

Not wanting to keep her waiting any longer, Cobra loped down the hill. His pace barely slowed as he made his way through the busy streets of his new home.

* * *

Lucy fidgeted in her seat at the bar. He was late. She panicked at the thought that maybe he had changed his mind. Maybe giving up Crime Sorciere and fighting the dark guilds really was too much of a sacrifice. She tried to tell herself that she would be okay with it as long as he still came home from time to time. Deep down she knew it wasn't true, though. She needed him with her. She couldn't bring this baby into the world alone, and it was just too risky for him to be off fighting evil all the time while she stayed on the sidelines hoping he would come home safely. Lucy didn't think her heart could take the strain.

Everyone called her the light of the guild. Even Cobra said that she had led him from the darkness with her blinding light. She hid the thought from him, but mostly she thought it was the other way around. Lucy had been in freefall when she met Cobra officially for the first time. She was happy with her family, but she had noticed that while everyone else was moving forward in their lives, growing up and moving in different directions, her world wasn't changing much. She had everything she wanted, so there was no need to chase something greater.

Natsu still held on to the hope of finding Igneel. Erza was finally gaining her Jellal (albeit slowly). Juvia had begun to move away from her obsession with Gray. Laxus was stepping into what everyone now accepted and even welcomed as his future leading the guild. Romeo and Wendy were growing into wonderful young adults. Life was passing, and everyone's goals were shifting.

Everyone except Lucy. She secretly feared the day when they would leave her. Everyone always left. She knew that her family would be there for her always, but it wasn't the same. Her best friend was growing away from her little by little. Actually, the whole team was starting to drift apart, despite still taking missions together nearly every week. They didn't spend as much time together when they weren't on a job. Lucy was even beginning to miss when Natsu would sneak into her bed and steal all of her food.

Lucy went with Erza to visit Jellal because she had nothing better to do. She didn't have a boyfriend or really any social life to speak of to keep her from going wherever she wanted. She liked her independence, she really did. But she didn't have any goals anymore. She had never been one of the wizards who strove to be the strongest in the world, and she didn't see a point in striving for that now. She still wrote her novel, and she was hoping to get it published soon. But her day-to-day life was a series of same that, while comforting, just made her more certain that her happiness couldn't last forever.

Although she complained bitterly about it when Erza told her the plan, the undercover job against Black Lightning was actually a godsend. She didn't realize how much so until later, but even in the moment, it felt good to be doing something so different.

And it helped her find the light to help her make sense of what was missing: Cobra.

She smiled at the thought and sipped her lemonade. Lately she had been less interested in her customary milkshakes; she blamed the baby for being finicky. Her soon-to-be husband would protest the idea of him being a guiding light for anyone. Despite everything he had done since turning away from evil, the man still saw himself as a dark entity. No matter how many times Lucy spoke against it, Cobra maintained that his past still had an impact on him. She and everyone else they knew may have forgiven him, and he had even forgiven himself with her help, but it was still there. Some stains never fully come out.

Lucy turned as the guild doors swung open, and her heart stopped. Her body always forgot how to function for a moment whenever he came into view. She flung herself off the barstool and into his arms before he could properly step into the guild. He grunted at the impact, and she felt him wince slightly beneath her touch. Lucy quickly stepped back and moved his jacket aside. She saw a lump on his left side and she lifted the shirt to inspect him.

As she checked over the bandages, Cobra just stood there and let her. It had been two months since they found out she was pregnant, and in that time Lucy had become increasingly worried for his safety. Cobra was pretty sure it was supposed to be the other way around, but then, Lucy didn't really take jobs now since she found out she was expecting. Occasionally she would waitress for a day or do other minimal risk assignments, but Cobra was the one still out doing dangerous things. Lucy's growing anxiety for him had convinced him to leave Crime Sorciere earlier than expected.

"I'm okay, Sugar," he muttered. Lucy sighed and pulled his shirt back down. At least he seemed to be moving without too much pain.

"You should let Wendy look at it when she gets back."

"No sense in bothering the kid," he said before leading her back to the bar.

"I just don't want you limping tomorrow. I can't have our friends from other guilds thinking that I'm marrying an invalid."

"Remind me again why we're not just going to the mayor's office and using a couple of your spirits as witnesses?" Cobra asked. Kinana dropped off a glass of bleach for him, and Cobra nodded his thanks to his best friend.

"Because I don't want to be a widow," Lucy replied. Cobra rolled his eyes, but he knew she was right. The wedding wasn't entirely her idea. There was no way the guild would let an opportunity like this pass by. Any excuse to celebrate was embraced wholeheartedly, but this was even bigger. Weddings were rare. Fairy Tail wizards in particular didn't seem overly keen on the idea of matrimony. Prior to Elfman and Evergreen's nuptials, the last one had been while half the guild was asleep on Tenrou Island. Lucy suspected that weddings were about to become far more popular with the guild, though.

 _I'm happy you're home, Erik,_ Lucy thought.

* * *

That evening the guild was bubbling with excitement. No one could talk about anything except the ceremony that would occur in the hall the next day. Lucy turned to make a sarcastic comment to Cobra only to see his seat empty. She looked around and barely caught a glimpse of five dragon slayers forcibly dragging him from the guild with Cobra yelling obscenities at them. She hadn't even known Sting and Rogue were already in town. Lucy giggled, though she was a little sad that she didn't get a kiss goodbye.

She didn't have long to dwell, though. As soon as her fiancé and the other boys disappeared, Lucy was mobbed by her closest girl friends. They pulled her excitedly out of the guild and towards Fairy Hills. There had been talk of a traditional bachelorette party, but due to Lucy's condition, even Cana had to admit that a night on the town was a bad idea. So they left that bit to the boys and decided to have a raging slumber party instead.

They spent the night talking love and babies, painting their nails, and singing to old favorites. Most of the girls were making cookies when Evergreen pulled Lucy aside.

"Lucy, I don't want to spoil your big day, so I haven't told anyone. I haven't even told Elfman, yet, but I just can't keep it in anymore. You're not the only one who's going to be a mother soon," she said. Lucy squealed and pulled the brunette in for a hug.

"Oh Ever that's wonderful! Now I don't have to go through this alone. You aren't spoiling anything at all. We always need more reasons to celebrate!" Lucy exclaimed.

The attention of the other girls was caught by Lucy's squeal and as soon as the information was relayed in full, another collective squeal went up that traveled all over Magnolia.

* * *

"What the hell are those women doing?" Gajeel complained as he gripped his ears. The other slayers were in similar positions with pained expressions.

"Who knows," Laxus said as he slid another drink to Cobra.

"You guys do know this is kind of pointless, right?" Cobra asked as he accepted the drink anyway. "I can't get drunk."

"You're pretty good at poisoning yourself, though," Jellal said with a smirk. He and Macbeth had been waiting at the bar for the slayers to drag in Cobra.

"Let's not talk about that," Cobra said with a snarl.

"Wait, this story I have to hear," Sting said. Despite Cobra's protests, Jellal launched into a description of Cobra's experience with Moonshadow, going into great detail about the poison slayer's pining for a certain blonde. The group drank and laughed as Jellal and Macbeth took turns telling stories about Cobra and Lucy.

Cobra scowled through it all, but inside he was reliving those moments, and it just made him more excited to finally fully claim his bride. It was a weird experience for Cobra. He never had many friends, but suddenly he had five men calling him brother. He hadn't even realized this sort of thing was missing from his life until now.

As the night wound down, Cobra tried to sneak away so he could go find his fiancée, but Gajeel and Laxus stopped him with hands on his shoulders.

"Oh no, you don't, snake boy," Gajeel said. "You can't see the bride 'til the wedding. You're staying with us tonight."

Cobra gave a half-hearted curse before letting them lead him to a large house on the edge of town. He smelled Laxus all over it.

"Lightning rod, I didn't take you for the sleepover type," Cobra said. Laxus growled at him.

"Tch. My place is the only one big enough for all of us," he replied.

Natsu instantly passed out on the couch and Sting began drawing on his face with a pen he found on the coffee table. The younger slayer snickered as he admired his handiwork, but he quickly moved on to Rogue, whose head had dropped to his chest almost as soon as he sat in a large armchair by the fireplace. The rest of the men in the room decided they would not be sleeping until Sting had passed out and they'd had a chance to hide all writing utensils.

Cobra found himself by the French doors leading to a balcony overlooking a small lake. He looked up at the stars Lucy had taught him about as he heard Jellal approaching him.

"Are you nervous?" The blue-haired man asked.

"Nah, just anxious to get it over with. I would have married her the night I proposed if anyone had let me." Jellal chuckled, and Cobra added, "What about you? When are you and Titania finally going to do it?"

"We are going for a rather longer engagement. I can't leave Crime Sorciere as you have," Jellal said. "I wish that I could. Perhaps in similar circumstances, I could let her convince me."

"Lucy didn't have to convince me of anything," Cobra said. "I can't stand being away from her anymore. I think it's different for slayers."

"Damn straight," Gajeel said from where we was perched on a bar stool at the kitchen island. "It starts to tear you apart to be too far away from your mate. Once you know it's them, each day gets harder. I bet her carrying your kid makes it worse, too."

"That sounds awful," Sting murmured with a large yawn. He was sprawled on the floor with his back to the couch. "I'll leave this whole mates thing to you old guys. None of that bullshit for me, thanks."

"You don't really get a say in it, kid," Gajeel said. He barked out a laugh and added, "I can't wait to see who you end up with. I bet the whole thing will be funny as hell."

"Bite me, Rust Bucket," Sting muttered. Then, his head dropped back onto the couch, and he snored loudly.

"Think he's faking so we'll drop our guard?" Macbeth asked. Cobra listened for a moment.

"Nah, he's really out. Guess that means we can sleep, too."

Laxus led them up to a few guestrooms on the second floor. Cobra launched himself onto the bed backwards and stared at the ceiling. It was his first night back in Magnolia after a two week mission to finally put the nail in the coffin for Black Lightning. He wished Lucy could have been with him for the end as she had for the beginning. He also wished he was sleeping next to her tonight. At least, there would be other nights. The love was no longer missing from his life.

Across town crammed into a bed between Levy and Erza, Lucy's thoughts followed nearly identical lines. She loved her friends, but she wanted her slayer. She snuggled further into the mattress and smiled. She drifted off thinking that this was the last night she would sleep without him. Tomorrow, she would finally get to start the rest of her life with her husband at her side. Their journey together was still just beginning.


End file.
